Vehicle air conditioning



June 17, 1947.

E. H. R. PEGG VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONING Filed July 6, 1945 R O T.. N E Vm ATTORNEY Patented .une 17, 1947 UNITE D. STATES O Y 254225.63.

VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONING EdwardgH. RPegg, Cranford,Av N; Jy,a/ssgruir,to;v Westinghouse .Electric Corporatiom; East Pitts-:1- burgh,Pa.,` a .corporation ofPennsylvania.

ApplicatonJuly 6, 1945, Serial No. 603,511

7- Claims.

My invention relates to vrailway cars having.v

air-conditioning systems including air-cleaning.:

means..

My invention hast for'itsprimary objecttthe.

application of' satisfactory' air-cleaningv means.A in'. the.air-conditioning system of a railroad'i car.v

Where the availablerspace forreceiving air-cleaningfmeans is small'orvaccessible With difficulty;

Typical air-conditioning-systems of a passenger railroad car.recirculate: the. air in a' closed path which includes the passengerspace or compartment; and the air-conditioning duct of.' the car. Tokeep the air.fresh,' acertain amount must be takeninto-the system fromoutside the car, an;equalL amount'raxhaustingor leaking out.

beyond, soV that' extremely clean air is: always.

available, in the. passenger'fspacerwhile 'the system istin op.eration.-

Many lother objects, features, innovations, and.

combinations of my. invention,v in .addition to. the

foregoing, willbe discernible.' orv obtainable from description andiaccompanying...

the` following drawingof a.; preferred: embodiment; drawing;

In the Figure- 1' is a perspective view-of a part offa:

railroad carV including.. an. air-conditioningv system; forillustrating, the principles.: of myv invention.

Fig. .2.iis1a'. vvertical sectional 'View substantially on thelineII-g-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. .3 fis. a,4 sectional View on the; linev .IIIe-III'.

A Loonventional j railroad Acara is-indicated -in .itsg

entirety` byrt'her reference4 numeral 2,'andfconiprises;a1-paSsenger-gspaceA or' compartment 4;. ai rooie Zone.6; and: one: or more end 1 Vestibules 8' openi to..,the; atmospheresurrounding the 1 car.

The'. Passenger' compartment 4f.' has*A walls, in' cluding Windows, onall its sides, .andI'is .separated from*` tha-:vestibule: 8 by a',Wa'llf` I Il having; acustomaryfdoon:

The' roof zone contains:y arr` aireconditioning. duct. I '2 provided'-with; anv internal. intakei I kopen. to the;passenger'lcornpartment';vand one onmore outletsf I6; also open' to.-.the; passenger. compartementA so --th'at'z air may. beV 'recirculated' in .az-iclosed'; path'.confined to the passenger. compartment; 4? andthe..air-conditioningzduct |21L The intake? I4 .is generally readily.accessible.' and' may bei; provided,l ift; desired," Witlfr-a',veryf-coarsemecllariif 1 cal filter. of the;V mesh'type' or'with'.ascreerrifora' catching lint, pieces of paper or other similari"large. dust-particles.l that1 can; be carried bye air.

successively upstream. in'- thel direction ot aire.' iiojw;A betweenthe. air intake I 4: arid'ithe 'air outs. lets'. I 5;. the.:-airfconditioningf: duct. I2'.v includes; as; plenum airmixingf; chamberI8; an electrostatic dusteprecipitatorgZ for cleaning the air passngfvthrough;-v the'; air-conditioning. duct, av treating.. means .12.2ifor:otherwise' airsconditioning. the air.' includingi its temperature and.yhumidity;l and :g a main blower 29';

The electrostatic 4dusteprjf-:cipitator 2B .comprises I anupstreamdust-chargingmeans' 26. and'.` adownstream dust-:precipitating:meansl '28,L each" comprising oppositelyj.. charged. electrodes;y The'dust-achargingl.: means# .2 Secomprise's' -.e'longated '.in sulate'df.ionizingf wiresr 30;: of.: less. than 3211 mi-lsr diameter-"3; parall'elto;- an'd?. between 1. uninsulated 'f round-ered;non-discharging:electrodesa 32A which l are.: spaced laterallyfacrossathe. duct.' 20; and the f dust-precipitating; meansg 28.1.comprises afplurality. of"upstandingealternatively insulated. andun-iinsulated:plateeelectrodesf. 3ft-'land '5.363respectivellyyparall'eling megas-new. The'platere'lectrodesic.

are. kept ssp'acedeand:relativelyinsulated by' a.plu. f

rali-ty. ot individual sm'all spacers 38y distributed.;v

acrossrftlfreir".A faces; asimore'. fully` described s and' claimed'inthe-Penney Patent 'No.f 2',3`4?7-,'709,:.dated May12',a1944.1. Pl-'at'espacin-gs `for electrostatic. dust:

p recipitators'` for.. effectively' cleaning.- air' to@ be:Y

recirculated with highfefiicienci-esare usually.;froni: aboutloifan'inch'tdabout %:.ofi an .incli'.-.

Their dust .'z on:` dirt which. isf: precipitatedi onto the..plate'electrodesmay` be removedin any'suit.-

ablel. mannerfbylt any': suitable. means; as repre'-l sented by4 ai.chamber 40?- ab'overf the plateeelec. trodes: 34' and;36;..througlmwhicha.- liquidi delivl.. ered togit vis discharged: into' the spaces.'`between* thea-plate#electrodesfori cleaningethemt- Thebottomf @ofli'llief'elect'rica'l dust-precipitator- -20is sloped to;4a.i',r.oug1fif.ll2:'for receiving. spent dirty:r liquid. An inlet'`deliverye pipe. 441:1 andi a\,-1iq-uid return pipe.; 4.a.' connectrespectively r to .the-.chamber 401i andthegtlougli 42.'. The pipes Miand45 en;l

'.; tendfdownwardly 'to 'anyg convenientlyi a'ccessbljqf 149, datedSeptember 26, 1944. However, other cleaning systems can be used, as, forexample, those disclosed in the copending applications, Serial Numbers603,503,.603,504, and 603,508, filed concurrently herewith.

In the operation of the system thus far described, the main blower 24causes air from the chamber I8 to pass through the electrostaticdust-precipitator Zll and the treating means 22 for conditioning. Theconditioned air is delivered into the compartment 4 through the outletsI6 in any satisfactory manner. Air from this compartment is drawn backinto the air-conditioning duct I2 through the intake I4, passing intothe chamber I8 for repassage or recirculation through the duct I2.Preferably the air is delivered to the passenger compartment 4 at apressure which will cause air to leak outwardly from the car.

`The leakage air is made up .by fresh air supplied to the chamber I8through a branch conduit system, indicated in its entirety by thereference numeral 48, comprising an external intake Ell at the end of anintake conduit 52 which leads to the low pressure side of acomplementary blower 54, the discharge end or high pressure side ofwhich is connected by a conduit 56 to theinlet side of a mechanicalair-cleaner 58 that discharges into the chamber I8. The intake conduit52 may be located in any convenient,k place where it may receive outsideatmospheric air around the railroad car. The ceiling of the vestibule 8.is a preferred location for the intake 50.

The mechanical lair-cleaner 58 is of the concentric tube type, ywithoutmoving parts, and operates on the principle of removing dust-particlesfrom air by centrifugal action. Such cleaners will eectively remove therelatively larger dust-particles, and even smaller particles of a sizeas low las five microns. As more particularly shown in Figs.2 and 3, themechanical air-cleaner comprises a plurality of sloped parallelair-cleaning sets B4 of concentric tubes, an intermediate inlet chamberSB, an upper chamber 68 for cleaned air, and a lower dust-receivingportion or chamber 1.0.

Each air-cleaning set 64 comprises an inner tube I2 and an outer tube14. The inner tube 'I2 extends upwardly beyond the outer tube 14 that,in turn, extends below the inner tube. At a point where the two tube-sare nested, the outer tube 14 is provided with diametrically opposedtangential openings l5 which are exposed in the inlet chamber 65, andwith an upper somewhat annular closing wall 'll extending to the innertube 12. The lower end of the outer tube `'I4 is provided withaninverted frusto-conical spout 'I8 opening into the dust-receiving.chamber 10. The inner tube 'I2 passes through the inlet chamber 66 andhas its upper open end in the upper chamber ISS. Y

Air blown by the complementary blower 54 is delivered to the inletchamber 66 of the mechanical air-cleaner, from where different portionspass through the openings 'I5 of the fair-cleaning sets 64'. The airentering the openings 'i6 whirls downwardly along the inner surfaces ofthe outer' tubes 'll-l, reverses its axial direction of ow andthenwhirls upwardly into and through the inner' tubes 'l2 to the upperchamber 68. In passing through the air-cleaning sets 64, the relativelylarger dust-particles are separated from the fresh air, fall by gravityand are carried to the bottom of the sets which open into thedust-receiving.' chamber l@ from which an exhaust pipe 8i) extends to anopening 82 in an outside wall oi the car. A small amount of scavengingair flows? through this exhaust pipe, carrying with it the dirt whichseparated from the fresh air passing through the mechanical air-cleaner.The dis-- charging of this scavengingrair directly into the' atmosphereeliminates the need fora closed dustcollecting compartment in themechanical aircleaner. This is an important feature in a system of thetype described, since such a dust-collecting bin would requireadditional space on the railroad car.

It is necessary to place the mechanical aircleaner on the high pressureside of the complementary blower 54 in order to obtain this ow ofscavenging air that removes the dirt from the mechanical air-cleaner 53substantially as quickly as it is separated from the incoming fresh air.

The blower 54 complements the main lblower' 24 for maintaining a plenumsystem in the mixing chamber I8, but the blower 54 should not be sostrong as to tend to drive air from the mixing chamber through theintake I4.

The amount of scavenging air flowing through the exhaust pipe 3!! may becontrolled in any suitable manner as, for example, by `a restriction inthis pipe which may be in the form of a Valve at the opening 82.

Clean fresh air in the chamber 68 of the mechanical air-cleaner 53 isdelivered to the airmixing chamber i8 where the clean freshrair is mixedwith recirculating air drawn into the chamber I8 through the internalintake i4. The mixed air passes through the various air-conditioningmeans in the air-conditioning duct l2 and then discharges into thepassenger compartment 4.

For illustrating a typical air-conditioning system in accordance with myinvention, approximately 25% outside air and '75% recirculating air maypass through air-conditioning duct I2'. The complementary blower forcesthe fresh air into the system. This blower also supplies the air forscavenging the dirt from the mechanical air-cleaner, this scavenging airbeing about 5% of the cleaned fresh air supplied to the main plenumchamber I8. The part of the air, blown by the blower 54, which is usedfor scavenging can remain constant with varying proportions between thefresh and return air passing through the air-conditioning duct I2. Itshould be understood, however, that the foregoing figures areillustrative rand not necessarily limitations. The self-Cleaningmechanical. air-cleaner 58 and the complementaryfblower 54 assureaconstant supply of Vfresh air without disturbing the pressure balancesin the system because the pressur@ drop in the air-cleanerV issubstantially constant. Because the electrostatic dust-precipitator iscalled upon to remove only the fine and extremely ne dust-particles fromthe air supplied to the passenger compartment 4, its size can berestricted.

While I have described my invention in a preferred form, it is obviousthat its teachings are 9 d of general application, and that theseteachings can be incorporated inotherforms v'and embodiments.

I claim asmy invention:

i. `Aman-'conditioning system applied to a railroad car having apassenger compartment, said system comprising, in combination, anair-conditioning duct inside the car having `blower Vmeans and "anintake and an outlet opening exposed in saidipassenger compartment, saidVair-conditioninjg duct inc-ludingan upstream mixing chamber followed bya downstream electrostatic dust-precipitator and a blower, saidelectrostatic dust-precipitator comprising a dust-charging means and adust-precipitatingmeans including a plurality of relatively closelyspaced upstanding plates, branch conduit means inside the car forsupplying outside atmospheric air to said mixing chamber, said outsideair constituting a minor part of the air flowing in the duct, saidbranch conduit means comprising an intake passage in a wall of saidrailroad car for outside atmospheric air, an upstream blower, amechanical air-cleaner having a plurality of sets of upstandingconcentric tubes for centrifugally cleaning the air flowing in saidbranch conduit system, each set Comprising an inner tube and an outertube, with the ends of the inner tube above those of th'e outer tube, anair-delivering duct extending from the top of said inner tube to saidmixing chamber, a chamber receiving the lower ends of said outer tubes,and a scavenging pipe extending from the last said chamber to an openingin a side wall of the railroad car whereby the mechanically removed'dirt is continually discharged into the surrounding atmosphere.

2. 'Ih'e invention of claim 1 but characterized further byplate-cleaning means for delivering cleaning liquid to the top of saidupstanding plates and for removing spent liquid passing out of saidplates, the plate-cleaning means comprising a liquid delivery pipe and areturn pipe extending between said electrostatic dust-precipitator andan outer wall of said railroad car.

3. In a railroad car, in combination, a walled compartment to besupplied with conditioned air, the compartment being such that air canleak out of it, means for circulating air in a closed path includingsaid compartment, said means comprising a conduit including anelectrostatic dust-precipitator and a blower; a branch conduit connectedto said conduit for adding fresh air to the air being circulated, thelast said branch conduit comprising a mechanical aircleaner; means forremoving dirt from said mechanical air-cleaner substantially as soon asit is separated from the fresh air and for delivering the dirt to apoint outside of said compartment; and .pipe means with detachableconnector-means for receiving a cleaning liquid from outside thecompartment for delivery to said electrostatic dust-precipitator forcleaning it, and -for substantially thereafter returning spent liquid tothe outside of the compartment.

4. In a railroad car, in combination for a. walled compartment to besupplied with conditioned air, the compartment being such that air canleak out of it, means for circulating air in a closed path includingsaid compartment, said means comprising a conduit means includinganelectrostatic dust-precipitator and a blower; and means comprising abranch conduit connected to said conduit means for adding fresh air tothe air being circulated, the last said means having associatedtherewith a separate air-moving means conditioning duct having blowermeans and an intake and an outlet opening exposed in said passengercompartment, -said air-conditioning duct including an upstreammixing-chamber .for receiving air from said intake, said mixing chamberbeing followed by a downstream electrostatic dust-precipitator and ablower, a branch conduit means connected to said duct for supplyingoutside atmospheric air to said mixing chamber, with the outside airconstituting a minor part of the air for said duct, said branch conduitmeans comprising an intake passage for outside atmospheric air, anupstream blower, a centrifugal mechanical air-cleaner, and means fordelivering cleaned air from said mechanical air cleaner to said mixingchamber, and a scavenging pipe for carrying dirt away from themechanical air-cleaner substantially as soon as it is removed from saidcleaned air by said mechanical air-cleaner.

6. An air-conditioning system in a railroad car having a passengercompartment, said system comprising, in combination, an air-conditioningduct having air-moving means, said air-conditioning duct -having anintake opening and an outlet opening exposed in said passengercompartment and means for circulating the air in said duct, whereby aircan be re-circulated in a loop path passing through said duct andcompartment, said air-conditioning duct including an electrostaticdust-precipitator comprising a plurality of alternately relativelyinsulated and uninsulated plate-electrodes paralleling the air nowthrough said duct, branch duct means for supplying fresh air to saidduct at a point between said inlet and outlet openings, said branch ductmeans comprising a centrifugal mechanical air-cleaner of a typeincluding a plurality of sets of nested tubes, said branch duct meanshaving an intake outside of said compartment for delivering freshatmospheric air to said mechanical air-cleaner for cleaning, a separateair moving means for forcing atmospheric air through said mechanicalair-cleaner, and an open pipe for carrying dust away from saidmechanical aircleaner substantially as soon as the dust is removed fromthe fresh air passing through said mechanical air-cleaner to saidair-conditioning duct.

7. An air-conditioning system in a railroad car having a passengercompartment, said system comprising, in combination, an air-conditioningduct having air-moving means, said air-conditioning duct having anintake opening and an outlet opening exposed in said passengercompartment whereby air can be recirculated in a loop path passingthrough said duct and compartment, said air-conditioning duct includingan electrostatic dust-precipitator comprising a1- ternately relativelyinsulated and uninsulated plate-electrodes paralleling the air flowthrough said duct, branch duct means having a discharge at a point insaid loop-duct between said inlet and outlet openings, said branch ductmeans comprising a mechanical air cleaner of a type which includes meansfor causing dust to move out of the air stream flowing through the me- 78 chanica a-ceaner to the loop path, and means for carrying suchseparated'dust away from the Y UNITED STATES PATENTS path for said airstream, said branch duct means Number Name Date having an intake out ofsaid loop path for entry 2,203,503 Nichols June 4 1940 0f freshatmospheric air 5. 2,176,841 Hanson ont. 17, 1939 2,183,498 AndersonDec. 12, 1939 EDWARD H- R PEGG- 1,997,125 soyez et a1 Apr. 9, 19352,360,355 McBride et a1 Oct. 17, 1944 REFERENCES CITED 2,218,190Anderson ooo. 15, 1940 The following references are of record in the m426,359 Bemis Apr. 22, 1890 le of this patent: f 2.198.867 Fair et a1Abr. 30. 1940

